Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan were great and heroic American leaders, who would be disgusted and saddened with their Republican Party today. It has deteriorated into a clique of whining, puny “establishment” ciphers like Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell, George Will, Bill Kristol and Peggy Noonan[2]—who have never done anything great or heroic in their collective lifetimes, and are the worst of American politics.

They traffic in fear and implicit hatred of everything that Donald Trump stands for; they have been brutally divisive; and they are doing everything in their power to demonize and block the presidential candidacy of Trump[3], who is leading in the polls[4]. They are the reason why lots of Americans left the GOP years ago, and will never return except to vote for Trump, and only Trump.

If they were to succeed in preventing him from getting the party’s nomination, many Americans would vote for him as an Independent, or literally hold their noses and vote for Hillary Clinton[5], or not vote at all in the general election. This would effectively “gut” the GOP, like Ross Perot did in 1992. The American people are angry; and this includes very conservative GOP women, Independents, and Reagan Democrats.

One needs to work on or with Capitol Hill to realize fully how bad both national political parties are. If one truly cares about our great nation and its future, the rejection of both parties is an easy and necessary decision. This is why lots of Americans have become Independents[6], and will never become members of either national party again. These Americans do not care what happens to the GOP. If it goes down the drain, so be it. The same is true of the Democratic Party. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, an Independent will be elected as America’s president.[7]

However, the criticism of Trump is not limited to the Republican party, or the Democrats, but extends abroad as well, in countries such as the UK.[8] Most Americans do not care what the Brits think about anything, much less our electoral politics. The country is descending into irrelevancy; and that process will be accelerated when Scotland leaves and the Trident program is canceled[9]. The sheer stupidity of some Brits is mind-boggling though—until it is remembered that the UK might be speaking German now if the U.S. had not been its “salvation” in World War II.

They ridiculed Reagan too. Lest they forget relatively-recent history, Reagan and George H.W. Bush set their sights on destroying the USSR, and it is gone now, without a shot being fired. The Brits and others in Europe would still be cowering at the feet of the Soviets but for the United States. How many young kids today have ever heard of the Soviet Union or the USSR, or the Cold War? Yet, in elementary schools in Los Angeles, as an example, students were taught to hide under their desks and cover their heads, and shield themselves from “falling debris”—stemming from a Soviet nuclear attack.

At some point, Trump and his lovely wife, Melania, may ask: “Do we really need this?” The answer is clearly “no,” and he might drop out of the race—although hopefully not. If he does, many Americans will never vote for a GOP candidate again, as retribution. Perhaps Trump gains satisfaction from “fighting the system,” and trying to make America better, just as Ronald Reagan did before him. Clearly, the “establishments” of both parties scream and “claw” at those who dare to challenge their power and orthodoxy. It is like belonging to a private club that discriminates.

Trump is admired by vast numbers of Americans, from all walks of life, just as Reagan was. Who would have thought that Reagan and Bush could have brought down the USSR’s thoroughly “Evil Empire.” Russia and its KGB-trained brutal killer and dictator-for-life, Vladimir Putin, must be next.[10] Reagan truly changed the world, which is why he is deified and “Teflon-coated” today—much to the disgust of the Democrats who hated him, just as they hated Richard Nixon and now Donald Trump. The Neanderthals in the GOP are too stupid to recognize the parallels.

Like Reagan before him, Trump represents America’s glorious future, not its past.[11]

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (seewww.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele

[2] Noonan is a perfect example. Like Rove, Will and Kristol, she is full of herself and a raving Narcissist. Her words have not been worth reading in years. She considers herself one of the GOP “elites,” when in reality she and the others are nothing more than whining, puny “establishment” ciphers. Her latest Trump “hit piece” in the Wall Street Journal is an example.

[11] By way of full disclosure, the author believed that former Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin had a very bright political future, which turned out to be wrong. Indeed, he believed that “two women might face off for the American presidency in 2012,” Hillary Clinton and Palin—which did not happen.

Christianity has 2.2 billion followers. Islam has 1.8 billion followers. At most, Judaism has 14 million followers. There are radical members of each religious group; and Americans cannot allow fear to generate unbridled hatred and anger.[2] The United States and the American people are not at war with Islam or its followers. Anyone who suggests otherwise is Islamophobic.

Islamophobia does not have any place in the U.S. Yet, this is exactly what many are preaching today, which is wrong. Islamophobia is un-American, and inconsistent with Jesus’ teachings as set forth in the New Testament—just as racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination are evil. Fear spawns hatred, anger and retribution. Too much of it is present in America and other countries.

According to the rhetoric espoused by some people, one might think that they want to kill all followers of Islam, or attack or discriminate against them, which is absurd and evil unto itself. A large number of Americans are afraid. But their fear is nothing when compared with the fears that were present in the U.S. after 9/11.

We live in difficult and challenging times.[3] But the terrorist acts of a few cannot be allowed to permeate and change our great nation or the American people. This is a lesson we learned from World War II. An estimated 110,000 Japanese-Americans were “interned” at Manzanar in California and at other camps, because of similar fears.[4]

Terrorist attacks have occurred in the U.S. and abroad. Tragically, it seems that “terrorism”—in its many forms—will be present for a long time to come. Kate Steinle was killed brutally in the “sanctuary city” of San Francisco by a known criminal and illegal immigrant.[5] Oklahoma City was bombed by Timothy McVeigh[6]. More than 900 perished in the religious cult of Jim Jones.[7] Mass killings occurred recently in Paris[8] and San Bernardino, California[9]. And the list goes on and on.

Large numbers of Americans tune out Barack Obama because of their frustrations, anger and disgust. Indeed, there is enormous venom with respect to the followers of Islam and him—as well as outright racism—which appears on Web sites in the U.S. and abroad. Often, violent statements and actions are directed at both.[10]

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (seewww.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele

[2] It has been said: “Muslims are like guns and gun owners. There is only trouble with a small percentage.”

The death of Russia’s brutal dictator-for-life Vladimir Putin, and the end of Russia, will comprise the final chapter of the Cold War—which began at the end of World War II, and lasted more than 70 years.

Lots of us have lived through that war since we were children. Growing up a mile west of UCLA’s Westwood campus in Los Angeles, and attending elementary school not far away in the suburb of Brentwood, my classmates and I had to go through mock nuclear explosion drills and hide under our desks and shield our heads from “falling debris.” I remember it well.

It is estimated that the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin was responsible for the deaths of more than 30 million men, women and children—his own countrymen—including millions during the collectivization of the Soviet farms in the 1930s. As the Soviets moved through Germany and captured Berlin at the end of World War II, they raped at least two million German women in what is now acknowledged as the largest case of mass rape in history.[2]

To their credit, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush set their sights on destroying the Soviet Union; and it is gone, without a shot being fired. After Soviet forces left Afghanistan in humiliation and defeat—and in body bags—the USSR imploded. The Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fell, and the rest is history. Yet, the Cold War did not end.

Putin is a killer, and Stalin’s heir.[3] After World War II, he came to prominence as a KGB operative in East Germany—or the DDR, as it was known before the collapse of Erich Honecker’s government—which was one of the most repressive regimes in the Soviet Union’s orbit, or the Evil Empire. Following the USSR’s implosion, Putin and his thugs and cronies hijacked Russia’s incipient democracy, and have been exploiting it ever since.

Despite being a “public servant” all of his life, Putin has amassed a fortune estimated to be $70 billion; “Versailles” has been built for him already[4]; and his cronies have amassed billions of dollars too, and are living like kings outside of Russia. The Russian people need to recover what Putin and his cronies have stolen from them, and then terminate all of them—like the last Czar and his family, and Italy’s Benito Mussolini. Nothing less will suffice.

The world must never forget that Putin left the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing to launch his aggression against Georgia. Then, he left the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and launched his aggression against Crimea and the rest of Ukraine. Also, the world must never forget that in addition to downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17—and killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board—Putin killed Alexander Litvinenko and countless others.

Russia is crippled as a result of our economic sanctions and the fall of oil prices. By ratcheting up the sanctions even more—such as unilaterally denying Russia access to the SWIFT banking system—Putin and Russia will be in free fall, and in a death spiral from which they will not recover. Putin’s “invasion” of Syria may prove to be quicksand for him, just as Afghanistan was for the Soviets.

Russia is weaker today than the former USSR before it collapsed. It spans nine time zones and includes 160 ethnic groups that speak an estimated 100 languages. It is by no means monolithic, and may crumble “overnight.” Once Putin is gone, Russia may be dismembered—never to rise again—with China taking part (e.g., Siberia, which it covets) and the rest becoming independent states like the former Yugoslavia.

Each of the new states will act in its own best interests, just as has been true in the former Yugoslavia, and among the countries that were spun off from the USSR—which have thrived as part of the West. Putinism will not survive Putin. It will suffer an ignominious death, like its namesake; and constitute a tragic watershed in history, like Adolf Hitler’s “Thousand Year Reich” and Nazism.

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (seewww.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele